Seminar: Visualizing Innovation

Dozent:innen: Michel Schilperoord
Kurzname: S Praxisfelder
Kurs-Nr.: 02.149.163082
Kurstyp: Seminar
Format: online

Voraussetzungen / Organisatorisches

Zielgruppe:

  1. Master Studierende im Studiengang Soziologie (PO 2011, 2016)
  2. Master Studierende im Studiengang Humangeographie im Kontextfach „Soziologie“
  3. Master Studierende im Studiengang Wirtschaftspädagogik (Schwerpunktfach „Sozialwissenschaften“)

Stellung im Studiengang:

  1. M.A. Soziologie: Modul „Ausgewählte gesellschaftliche Praxisfelder“ (PO 2011, 2016)
  2. M.Sc. Humangeographie Kontextfach „Soziologie“
  3. M.Sc. Wirtschaftspädagogik Schwerpunktfach „Sozialwissenschaften“: „Ausgewählte gesellschaftliche Praxisfelder“




 

Inhalt

Overview:

Computational Social Science (CSS), a young but growing research area at the intersection of social science, computational science and complexity science, refers to the use of (advanced) computational approaches in studying social phenomena. The main CSS areas are automated information extraction systems (e.g. automated text analysis), social network analysis, social geographic information systems (GIS), complexity modeling, and social simulation (e.g. agent-based simulation models). Skills of computational social scientists are built on foundations of statistical analyses done in Stata, SPSS, or another such program, through learning/exploring new skillsets uncommon in the social sciences that are developed by computer scientists and computational statisticians. These include network analysis, natural language processing and machine learning techniques, and the programming languages R and Python, all associated with doing "data science" in the "age of big data".

This seminar pulls together ideas from the introductory-level Computational Social Science course "Bridge from Statistics to Data Science”, and the "Simulating Knowledge Dynamics and Innovation Networks (Introduction to the SKIN platform)” course. In the course, students will be introduced to applications of data science that can be relevant to their studies. Particular attention goes to visualization applications for open data, helping them in mapping and simulating innovation and entrepreneurship in big data domains (e.g. health care, transportation, government). It opens up questions with regard to opportunities and limitations that characterize the state-of-the-art for each computational method and visualization technique, with methodological focus in network analysis, natural language processing and machine learning. It will also assist in gaining hands-on experiences for programming (basic) applications of data science in R and Python, building on previously learned skills for doing (basic) statistics in Stata. Along hands-on class work, it will further assist in developing appreciation for the principal techniques in “big data viz” and common elements of data science workflows, for instance: data exploration, modelling and simulation, and communication of data science results.

Learning outcomes:
 
This course covers a survey of practical examples of how CSS researchers with a foundation in statistics/Stata can apply (basic) methods of Computational Social Science for achieving a better understanding of certain social and economic issues and problems. On the theoretical side, it will provide an overview of CSS and foundational knowledge on its common methods, their differences, with key literature systematically reviewed. On the practical side, it will provide guidance for reasoning about which types of data science methods may be suitable for application to certain social and economic issues and problems, and how to make choices with regard design and implementation of a data science project.

Course Requirements and assignments:

Assignment 1: Pre-class preparation

This assignment is about producing excerpts (1 page per text) from the text book.
Each student is asked to agree with the instructor on seven excerpts taken from the different sections of the textbook.
The excerpts will be uploaded on Jugostine five days before the block seminar dates.

Assignment 2: Class presentation

This assignment is about presentation of a topic in class.
Each student is asked to discuss his/her choice with the instructor, and prepare a session from the syllabus. In certain cases, this can be done in cooperation.

Assignment 3: Simulation project

This assignment is post-class work on a data science project concerning one topic of the syllabus (mostly the one chosen for presentation). The students need to present a short abstract and the contents structure for their project to the instructor 10 days after the block seminar dates. The deadline for essay submission is the end of Term.

Recommended reading list:
Cioffi-Revilla C. (2014) Introduction to Computational Social Science (Texts in Computer Science). London: Springer.

Termine

Datum (Wochentag) Zeit Ort
02.11.2020 (Montag) 16:15 - 17:45 digital
09.11.2020 (Montag) 16:15 - 17:45 digital
16.11.2020 (Montag) 16:15 - 17:45 digital
23.11.2020 (Montag) 16:15 - 17:45 digital
30.11.2020 (Montag) 16:15 - 17:45 digital
07.12.2020 (Montag) 16:15 - 17:45 digital
14.12.2020 (Montag) 16:15 - 17:45 digital
04.01.2021 (Montag) 16:15 - 17:45 digital
11.01.2021 (Montag) 16:15 - 17:45 digital
18.01.2021 (Montag) 16:15 - 17:45 digital
25.01.2021 (Montag) 16:15 - 17:45 digital
01.02.2021 (Montag) 16:15 - 17:45 digital
08.02.2021 (Montag) 16:15 - 17:45 digital